Wii launches in South Korea on April 26 with even cheaper Virtual Console games

Later this month South Korea gets officially introduced to Nintendo’s remote with a suite Wii games fully localized into Korean. Nintendo is only bringing out two titles to start Wii Sports (sold separately) and Wii Play (still bundled with the remote) for 38,000 won ($39) a piece. The South Korean version of the Wii costs 220,000 won ($224).

Nintendo could have launched the console with Super Mario Galaxy or Mario Kart Wii instead they are leaving it up to third parties to carry the launch. Here is a list of games Korea gets on April 26.

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

FIFA 2008

Elebits

Namco Museum Remix

Pangya Golf 2nd Shot

Prices range from 38,000 won ($39) to 48,000 won ($49). It’s interesting to note that Pangya Golf 2nd Shot is the only natively developed Korean Wii game on the list. It’s also the most expensive game. I’m pretty surprised to see Zack & Wiki on the list. I don’t think any other Capcom games have been formally localized into Korean this generation, so this may be a first as well as a fourth chance for the adventure game to find an audience. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock arrives in May.

South Korea is getting a Virtual Console shop specifically for their region and compared to the rest of the world it is limited. Only three consoles are supported: Famicom, Super Famicom and Nintendo 64. No Sega Genesis, Neo Geo or TurboGrafx-16 games at launch. On the plus side South Korea pays the cheapest prices for Virtual Console games to date. Famicom/Nintendo titles cost 400 Wii Points ($4), Super Famicom/Super Nintendo games are only 600 ($6) and Nintendo 64 games cost 800 ($8). Compare that to 500, 800, and 1,000 Wii Points respectively.

Here are the virtual console games officially announced for South Korea:

Famicom

Antarctic Adventure

Donkey Kong

Kirby's Adventure

Super Mario Brothers

Super Famicom

Gradius III

Super Mario World

Super Metroid

Cybernator

Contra III: The Alien Wars

Nintendo 64

Mario Kart 64

There isn’t anything out of the ordinary. However, the inclusion of Antarctic Adventure suggests South Korea is getting some Japanese games with a mix of English ROMs. This is going to be an interesting hybrid to watch.

The other (possible?) bummer is the lack of channels. Their channel page only shows the Photo channel, Shopping channel and Mii channel. The weather channel and news channels that appeared in other regions for launch are not on the list. Perhaps, Nintendo is saving them for a later date? In that case I wonder how much extra memory the South Korean Wii has and if the loss of these features will entice locals to purchase an imported Wii instead.